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This city has always held a special place in my heart. When I was itty bitty, my mother and father let it be known that New York was a magical place. I still have the most vivid memories of having tea with my father at The Plaza, playing the giant piano upstairs in the late great F.A.O. Schwartz toy store, and seeing The Lion King on Broadway for the very first time. Of course there were also the family vacays in the big apple during my rebellious teenage years, but those were a little messier…so let’s keep it romantic and not go there. The first time I ever lived alone was in New York, the Summer of 2009 when I was 17, going to the American Conservatory of Dramatic Arts and then again at 18, with my first big girl job working for Lizzie Grubman PR…but the memories that might be my fondest are the ones that same Summer of 2010 when Peter and I first fell in love.

Let me tell you from experience, if you’re ever going to fall in love, New York might just be the best place to do it. We spent it traveling back and forth, Canada<—>NY every single weekend, refusing to let a week go by without seeing one another, constantly attempting to surprise each other with big gestures, and small thoughtful ones. I dragged Peter to every musical on Broadway, the restaurants I grew up going to with my family, and then there was our legendary weekend in the Hamptons of course. The story of our first Summer might just be too long and epic to resonate as a blog post, so maybe we’ll tell it together one day. All this to say that when Peter and I visit New York City, even if it’s for work, meetings, or Fashion Week, it has never ceased to be magical. Just the way it felt when I was itty bitty, except maybe even better…

Women’s rights, is the issue that lives closest to my heart. That pulls its strings every time an uneducated sentence on the topic is mustered, every time an ignorant statement is made. There is so much I want to say on the subject, so much that I don’t know where to start. My fingers are paralyzed by the weight and importance of what needs to be expressed so it can be understood. The strong women who raised me, the powerful figures that molded me, and the voiceless women living injustice deserve more than I could ever convey in a blog post. So instead I thought I would share a piece with you guys. A piece I wrote it when I was 17, when I first found the courage to voice that I deserved just as much as the boys.

“I want talk about words. The power of words. The word feminist to be exact. First of all let me ask you. Do you identify yourself as a feminist? No? Then are you someone who genuinely believe that women don’t deserve or aren’t as much as men?…There’s a discrepancy there. “I’m not a sexist but I’m not a feminist,” people think that there is a difference between the words, like middle ground between two extremes. Let me tell you the truth you either believe that women should be politically, socially, and economically equal to men or you don’t, there is no middle ground between the two. By definition you are either a misogynist who dislikes, despises, or is strongly prejudiced against women or a feminist, it’s that simple.

You see there is a problem within the root of the word feminist itself. Not so much the “femin” part but the “ist,” that fateful “ist” is in bad company. Racist, ageist, sexist, these words have absolutely no positive connotation, and serve very different purposes then the word feminist. That’s a line that we’ve crossed with the word. Anything on the other side is shameful, and many believe feminists belong in the same ranks. All this talk trying to help the reputation of a word, and I have yet to define it. I believe a quote by Gloria Steinem will do the trick “A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” Or better yet one by author Cheris Kramarae “Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings.” I am a feminist, I do not hate men, or consider myself better than those who belong to the other sex. I do not refuse to shave my legs, or to wear a bra as a political statement. I also don’t think believing in this cause makes me radical or scary. Desmond Tutu said “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” so listen to Desmond and next time someone asks you if you are a feminist, please raise your fucking hand.”DIO(R)EVOLUTION